


Restless

by rane_ne



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Acquaintances to Friends to Lovers, Canon speculating, Character Study, Gen, Introspection, M/M, Mild Angst, Non-existing character (who hopefully will exist one day), Romance, Sexual Content, first encounter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 21:40:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17691557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rane_ne/pseuds/rane_ne
Summary: A collection of drabbles based on Ku Hai and Haoran's relationship (past, present, and future).**Includes spoilers for Ku Hai's character story.





	1. Restless

**Author's Note:**

> I know Haoran doesn't exist as a playable character in the game (or even in the story besides mention of name in Ku Hai's story) T__T BUT I just ship him with Ku Hai so damn hard. Plus, I _hope_ he'll one day become a character... and this is my mental image of his appearance (as detailed below). Enjoy!

_How deep rooted is your hurt... your sense of betrayal?_

The question kept Ku Hai wide awake at night, listlessly wondering as he stared up through the swirling darkness at the tall, elevated ceiling of Euden's castle.

At the edges of his memories, he recalled the other man's calm but unreadable face. Those sober, deep red eyes that seemed to pierce right through the mind, unyielding and all-consuming. That flicker of intense emotion brewing beneath his quiet exterior. That phantom quirk of a smile after a successful battle, after his enemies fell, one by one, before him--first frozen indefinitely by his binding chi, only to be hacked into pieces by his skilled swordsmanship a mere second later. What Haoran lacked in pure strength and physique, he made up for in different, far greater ways. He was cunning, Ku Hai recalled, and knew how to utilize his talents to the best of his abilities.

He had been envious of the man at one point. They'd never actually been friends; acquaintances, perhaps, and distant ones at that. But he couldn't deny that he had always held a strange competitive respect for the other male--for someone he once considered his equal. 

_Once?_

Ku Hai frowned, shifting under his overly warm blanket uneasily, gaze drifting over to the large window beside his bed. Outside, the moon was in full bloom, brightly illuminating the contours of the vast, open fields that extended past the Halidom grounds. Somewhere out there, near or far, Haoran was still alive, roaming the world as a solitary wanderer determined to make amends for his past sins. Alone and surely still suffering from his betrayal. Alone but surely  _alive_.

"He's  _still_  my equal," Ku Hai reminded himself, almost chidingly. "I still have a chance to see him." _I still have a chance to reassure him and remind him... that he's not alone._

Although the thought only served to spurn forth more restless scenarios and images of their future, inevitable encounter - the undoubted misunderstandings that would ensue, the potential duel that would erupt upon their first sighting of each another - Ku Hai felt soothed by that one simple promise. 

"Wait for me," he murmured to the empty room, so quiet that only the nosiest of eavesdroppers could hear. His light golden eyes flashed with determination, breaking through the darkness like a guiding beacon. "I'll find you, Haoran."  
  
  



	2. Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First encounter between Haoran and Ku Hai after Ku Hai finds out the truth from the old lady in the mountains (around 3 weeks ~ 1 month afterward). This scene takes place after Ku Hai thinks he's been discreetly stalking Haoran through town... but gets caught like a noob.
> 
> 2/5/19 (11:30 PM).

He first feels the ice trickle through the pores of his skin before the overwhelming assault of piercing, body-drenching coldness seeps deep into his bloodstream, freezing him immediately in place.

Without even having to see the other man's face - the sound of those footsteps cautious, measured, and still familiar even to this day - the dark-haired swordsman is all too aware of who  _this_  is.

"...Ku Hai?" his ex-dojo mate's surprised voice breaks the silence.

The monstrous force of Haoran's binding chi is relentless, making it hard to breathe, think, let alone speak, so all he can do is gasp out an affirmative. It feels like every muscle in his body is simultaneously cramping up, stretched taut like wire and painfully tight with tension. He can hardly swivel his eyes - the only thing he's still able to willingly control - to track the vibrations of those light footsteps as they make their way around him.

There's a small noise of disbelief and for just a glorious moment the bind loosens around his body. But before he has time to collect his bearings and make an escape, the invisible strings tighten again and the footsteps stop.

When Ku Hai's eyes finally finish their roam around the room to settle back, wearily, before him, the sight of frost-colored fabric greets him. 

The snowy white edges of Haoran's trademark cloak, emblazoned at both corners with the fading image of  _that_ symbol, fall easily around his lanky legs and boots like a fitted blanket. The man still holds himself the same way--like an elegant crane, watchful and ever alert on his feet, yet appearing relaxed despite the wariness permanently instilled within his eyes. Eyes that are as deeply crimson as Ku Hai had remembered them to be - countless, countless times in his memory - now gazing up at him through a murky veil of confusion... and suspicion.

He doesn't need to ask, nor wonder, why Haoran hasn't yet unbounded him.

"What are you doing here?" The question is soft, eerily quiet and so  _deadly_ , that Ku Hai can't resist shuddering inside. "Why did you follow me through town?"

If it had been a month ago, before he and Euden had met the old lady in the mountains, he would have replied back with a simple, "To ask and avenge."

But now--everything haschanged and his motives aren't as simple anymore. Along with the strangely urgent desire to apologize to Haoran for his previous misguided assumptions, the desire to reassure him that he would still uphold the way of a noble swordsman - a notion he's not even certain Haoran had truly considered a concern, given that the truth may have been distorted from a 3rd party's retelling - Ku Hai realizes that he wants something  _more_.

_Come back and stay with me at Euden's castle._

The thought fills his stomach with a gut-wrenching sensation of excitement.

_Come back so we can train together... like old times._

Right then and there, as he stares into those hooded, blood-red eyes, at that dark, haunted, yet seemingly placid face, at this mysterious person whom he knows so little about and had - in the past - reached out to even less, Ku Hai is struck with the sudden, desperate desire to make sure that Haoran doesn't escape from his grasp this time around.  
  
  



	3. Unanswered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mature rating incoming. 
> 
> I couldn't get this scene out of my head (though it became more... weird? than I had originally planned). I had no idea where I was trying to go with this but... here it is!
> 
> 2/7/19 (3:20 AM)

From the very first proposal to this seventh - or eighth? - rendezvous, Haoran still finds himself in the same position, slightly confused but hazy with bliss and a plethora of endless questions.

Long dark hair spills shakily onto his chest, draped over his thighs like thick strands of silk, and the weight atop his pliant and willing body is as familiar as the stirring fire in his lower abdomen.

His eyelids flutter lethargically above a pair of dimming red, reflected brightly by the sliver of moonlight that sneaks in through the tall windowpane beside them. His gaze flickers back and forth from the head bowed before him to the place where they're now sloppily connected, at the sheen of beige, slicked with sweat, on either side of his opened legs. He exhales and stretches a lazy hand out, involuntarily dragging his fingers through the locks of shimmering green.

Ku Hai shudders at the touch, hair falling farther over his now closed eyes. His brows are knitted and he's gritting his teeth, grimacing as if in pain. Sweat drips down his forehead as tellingly as the droplets that continue to drench his thighs wet with every jarring motion up and down, slippery and hot.

 _Just like his insides_ , Haoran can't help but think.

Pure heat and suffocating warmth envelop him from the shaft down, each tiny movement sending jolts of raw sensation through his body. This isn't the first time - nor does he feel like it'll be the last - but Haoran is still amazed at the sheer pleasure in such a simple act of unison with another man.

And not just any other man, the light-haired swordsman reminds himself, but  _Ku Hai_ of all people. Someone he'd once considered no more than a colleague, later a rival, and now...

_A lover?_

Haoran's keen crimson eyes observe the dip of that bowed head as Ku Hai leans deeper into him; mouth half opened as he breathes raggedly from exertion, pain, and pleasure; the smallest tint of red spreading from his cheeks to his ears; the tremor of his exposed, naked body so incredibly subtle despite each strong, forceful undulation of his hips.

But, despite the way he had perched himself onto Haoran, slamming down so readily upon his manhood, there's a hesitant undertone in the way he moves his body away from any other form of intimacy. How, despite the fact that they had done all of this - and so  _much_  more over the past few weeks - Ku Hai still appeared embarrassed by a gesture as simple as fingers running through his hair.

The thought makes Haoran smile.

Before he can stop himself, he leans forward and plants a light kiss atop those beautiful strands of silk. He doesn't miss the surprised noise that escapes from the man's dry, cracked lips. Catches, for the briefest of a millisecond, the way Ku Hai's eyes immediately fly open, dark golden orbs widening in shock, cheeks deepening in new shades of red and red.

Pulling his lover closer to his chest, Haoran chuckles, his expression softening.

For just this one moment, he allows himself to relax, to  _feel_  rather than think. He leans back against the wall and shutters his eyes closed, savoring the warm presence of another being alongside him.

_Perhaps those endless questions are best left unanswered._  
  



End file.
